


The Butterfly Effect

by Bee_Boy_Apollo



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Incredible Hulk (2008), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, New Asgard is Set in Iceland, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, They're engaged
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-22 19:43:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15589320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bee_Boy_Apollo/pseuds/Bee_Boy_Apollo
Summary: Thor keeps having nightmares about what happened during Ragnarok and whatcould'vehappened afterwards.Of course, the only way he can possibly think of to recover is to look at his sleeping fiance and wonder how in theworldhe got this lucky.





	The Butterfly Effect

**Author's Note:**

> This is yet another self-indulgent fic that I thought of when I was falling asleep a few days ago.
> 
> I never thought I would _ever_ write it, but here it is, and I'm so proud of it.

Every time he went back to sleep, he dreamed of Mjölnir shattering to pieces… of his father fading to light in front of his own eyes…

He even dreamed of scenarios that had never happened.

He dreamed of Hulk and Bruce being murdered by his own hands - by his own _powers_ \- back on Sakaar. He could see the blood so vividly each time. The scarring from the lightning created a pattern on the Hulk’s skin that was so disgustingly intricate it was beautiful. It would’ve been beautiful if it hadn’t have killed them.

He dreamed of Loki being choked to death by the hands of an unknown presence on the Asgardian ship, or of Loki returning to earth and being killed immediately for the crimes he’d committed. In both of these scenarios Loki had died - had been _murdered_ \- trying to save _him._

He dreamed of Heimdall being brutally murdered both at the hands of Hela and by the same hands which had killed Loki in the other dream. In every scenario, it was always Heimdall who had died first.

But none of that had actually happened.

None of it was real.

It was all a dream. 

Well, some of it had happened, but that meant that it was already in the past. He couldn’t go back in time and fix it. He couldn’t go back and change what had happened. 

Even if he could, he wouldn’t, because what if changing those events caused some of the other outcomes to occur. 

He wouldn’t live with himself if he witnessed his friends - no, his _family_ \- killed in front of him… _By_ him, and bringing Mjölnir or his father back might cause that to happen.

If he went back, he wouldn’t be here right now. 

He wouldn’t be here, in a sweet little cottage on the deserted hills of Iceland with the love of his life curled up in his arms, and his family in the houses right next to his. 

He wouldn’t be looking at Bruce, hoping to all the warriors and gods currently resting Valhalla that Bruce wouldn’t wake up and see him staring.

Bruce was currently in the most adorable sleeping position that Thor had ever seen, and that was including the time that Loki had fallen asleep holding one of his kittens on the porch swing of his new cottage. 

Bruce’s head was laying directly on Thor’s hipbone, and for the life of him he couldn’t figure out how that was comfortable. He’d asked once, but Bruce had just said ‘squishy’ and then went on cooking. So, he assumed his hip was just the right amount of squishy for Bruce to love sleeping on. 

Of course, that meant that Thor had to sleep partially sitting up, but at this point there was so much more to worry about than hurting his back all because his beautiful fiance liked to rest his cheek against his hip. 

Of course, having his cheek directly against Thor’s hip made Bruce’s cheeks squish up. 

They made him look like a chipmunk. 

A positively adorable chipmunk. 

Of course, Thor would never tell Bruce that. He’d probably get something like ‘Honey, I can turn into a giant green man, I do _not_ look like an adorable chipmunk when I sleep’ as a response. 

Honey… 

He loved that petname. 

He’d asked Bruce to explain it once. Apparently it was because he was the sweetest man Bruce had ever met and his hair also looked like honey. He couldn’t argue with that. 

Since they got to Iceland, Bruce had decided that his hair would look nicer if he grew it out a bit, and Thor would never disagree with that statement. Bruce’s hair was currently down to just over his ears, and Thor just wanted to run his fingers through it every second of every day. 

It was so soft and fluffy and Bruce seemed to love it whenever he did it so it was a win-win situation.

Of course, he couldn’t do that right now since _somebody_ \- Bruce - had decided that both of Thor’s arms had to be out of commission for the rest of the night. 

Seriously.

This man was like a tiny boa constrictor. A tiny, soft, beautiful boa constrictor. 

Bruce had his left arm wrapped around Thor’s arm so tightly that he couldn’t get it out if he tried. He _had_ tried once, and Bruce just held on tighter. Thor was pretty sure the Hulk had something to do with that. 

Bruce’s other arm was currently draped right across Thor’s entire torso and three of his fingers were lightly touching his arm right above his elbow.

Now, other people may move that arm because the touch was so light, but Thor would not. 

He would rather face Surtur with his bare hands as a mere Midgardian with no powers in Muspelheim than move his arm at this current moment. That would just disturb Bruce’s comfortable sleep and he loved him too much to _ever_ do that. 

He couldn’t even move his legs… 

Bruce had apparently made it a personal goal to make it impossible for Thor to move, because his leg was currently thrown directly overtop of Thor’s shins. 

This man was so perfect. So beautiful. 

He was so glad that this was the man he was going to be married to. 

Bruce got along with Loki despite all the things that he’d done to make it so that Loki was untrustable. 

Bruce loved Heimdall, the man who Thor saw as another father to him and Loki.

They had family dinners every Saturday, and at every dinner Thor had to stop and ask himself how he’d gotten that lucky. How he could’ve _possibly_ met the most perfect man in the whole entire universe, and how that man had loved him just as much as he loved him.

Bruce was perfect in every way. 

And so was the Hulk. 

No matter what anyone said, Hulk was just as loving and sweet as Bruce was. He just showed it in different ways. 

Oh no… Thor was crying. 

He was _actually_ sobbing. 

Because he was the luckiest man in the Nine Realms. He was the luckiest man in the whole entire vast unending universe, and he couldn’t even _begin_ to understand how he deserved a man like Bruce Banner. 

“Thor…” 

Shit… he’d woken Bruce up. Maybe if he just shut his eyes and didn’t make any noise Bruce would just go back to sleep. 

“Honey, why are you awake?”

Just…

Don’t say anything and maybe he’ll go back to sleep.

The arm across his waist moved up his arm and the head which was resting on his hip started to move up to get a better look at his face.

A thumb wipes away the tears on his cheek, and Bruce asks, “Thor, Honey, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

Thor opens his eyes again and immediately starts crying harder.

Bruce’s eyes are filled with worry even though he’s still just woken up, and there’s still wrinkles from the fabric of Thor’s shirt etched into his cheek. 

“I just- I was- I had another dream about Mjölnir, and I- It got me thinking…”

The worry in Bruce’s eyes was replaced by something Thor couldn’t describe. Sadness? Empathy maybe.

“Oh honey… Thinking about what?”

“Thinking about how glad I am to have you in my life. Wondering how I got so lucky…”

Bruce’s hand cups his cheek, and Thor can feel the cool metal of the engagement ring on his skin. 

“I wonder the same thing… every single day,” Bruce says, and then he presses his lips against Thor’s in a gentle kiss. 

It’s almost as if the kiss is a reassurance that Thor’s feelings are valid. That Bruce has felt them too and isn’t scared away by them. 

Thor takes his now free hand finally, _finally,_ allows himself to run his fingers through Bruce’s hair, and Bruce sighs against his lips.

They stay like that, pressing soft kisses on each others lips, Bruce rubbing gentle circles on Thor’s cheek with his thumb and Thor admiring just how soft Bruce’s hair was for what seemed like hours. 

Thor loved this. The sensation of kissing someone _just_ to kiss them. It wasn’t leading anywhere else… Bruce wasn’t expecting it to. 

It was perfect… 

And then Bruce pulled away.

“Honey, we need to talk about these dreams…”

“Not now… I don’t want to-” He was trying to find the right words to describe what he was feeling.

“You would rather just go to bed and deal with it in the morning?” Bruce asked. He looked like he was hoping he’d gotten the right tone Thor was going for.

Thor just nodded.

“Alright… ok. We can do that,” Bruce says, laying down with his back against the mattress. “We are talking about it, though. Don’t think I’ll forget.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it. Just… Just not tonight. Not right now. I just want to sleep.”

“I know, honey. Believe me… I know.” 

Bruce gently patted the area of his chest closest to where Thor was laying. 

“Come here… Try and get some sleep”

Thor wouldn’t argue with that.

He gently laid his head on Bruce’s chest and noted just how soothing the constant beating of Bruce’s heart was. 

It reminded him he was safe… 

He was alive…

Everything was ok… 

And he wouldn’t have it any other way.

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me on tumblr @bee-boy-apollo, on twitter @NoizButternuts, or leave me a message here in the comments.


End file.
